The invention relates to a solar shading module for shading direct sunlight, and to a glazed structure, such as a façade, roof, and sound barrier along a highway, comprising one or more solar shading modules. The invention further relates to a building comprising one or more solar shading modules. The invention also relates to a method for operating a solar shading module according to the invention.
Well-known shading modules usually comprise vertical or horizontal blinds that can be rotated about their longitudinal axis allowing the blinds to be positioned such that preferably all direct sunlight is blocked by the blinds.
However, a drawback of the vertical and horizontal blinds when for instance used in a façade of a building is that the blinds obstruct the view of an observer in many directions, i.e. the unobstructed view factor is relatively low. In other words, the blinds also block much of the indirect light.
To improve the unobstructed view factor, i.e. increase the unobstructed view factor, or in other words to allow more indirect light to pass the shading module, it is possible to provide a solar tracking system allowing the vertical and horizontal blinds to follow the sun thereby ensuring that direct sunlight is effectively blocked while at the same time the blinds are positioned to allow as much indirect light as possible to pass the blinds.
Although the provision of a solar tracking system has led to improvement, the improvement is not sufficient. Hence, there is a need to further improve the shading modules. However, so far, it has been found difficult to improve the unobstructed view factor while at the same time blocking all direct sunlight in substantially all possible positions of the sun.
Patent publication WO01/88312A1 discloses prior art in which shading elements are provided in an m×n array with m and n larger than 1, that are able to track the sun and adjust their position accordingly. However, the unobstructed view factor is still relatively low.